The Midnight Train
by Macbeth Mouse
Summary: Lucy is alone in this world, despite being surrounded by family. Just who is there to catch her when she falls?


Lucy was alone now. Even her sister had left to find her friends, essentially leaving her _to die._ Well, not die, really, just be eaten by the monsters that were outside her compartment door. Lucy shivered in fear and prayed to whatever God she supposed she believed in that the time would pass quickly and she wouldn't be there for very long.

Her hopes, of course, were in vain. She was on the Hogwarts Express, headed straight for the school the train was named after. Lucy was _terrified_ to go there, but she couldn't show it of course. So she put a smile on her face, just as she did every day of her life, and pretended everything was okay.

Lucy was alone now. This meant she could show all the fear she wanted to. But still, she remained with a grin. For what if someone was to come in? They couldn't see her crying! That would be embarrassing for her family, and she would never be able to live it down.

Waiting, always waiting, Lucy poised herself for when the train came to a stop, and planned to sit like that for the entire ride. It was uncomfortable, yes, but it kept her aware for whatever was to come. If anything was to come.

Something did come, only it didn't take hours like she expected it would. There was a knock on the door, and before Lucy could tell them to go away, the person barged their way in.

James stood there with his hand to his chest. He was flushed and panting, which were the obvious signs that he was being chased. James gave her a look that pleaded her not to say anything, before James simply vanished into thin air. Lucy's eyes were wide when the compartment door opened once more, only this time, an adult stood there.

The man looked to be a professor, and Lucy didn't want to get on his bad side. On the other hand, she didn't know exactly where James had gone. When the man asked her if she knew where Mr. Potter was, Lucy replied honestly that she did not know.

Then the man left, and Lucy was alone. Until she heard a sigh of relief, and then it was almost as if a curtain were taken down, and James appeared. He had a smile on his face.

"Thanks for that, Luce," he said, then reached for the door.

"Wait!" Lucy didn't want him to leave just yet. She didn't want to be _alone_, even if it meant being with someone she hardly knew. "H-how did you do that?"

"Hmm? Oh, this?" James lifted his arm up, and then disappeared again. She felt like screaming, but a warm hand covered her mouth before she could do so.

"Shhh," said a voice. Lucy couldn't tell where it was coming from, but for some reason, it did calm her down. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

It was déjà vu as the curtain-like thing lowered and James showed his smiling face. Turns out, it was his hand covering her lips, and mostly likely, it was his voice that had silenced her as well.

"What? How can you‒"

"With this!" In his hand was what looked like an average cloak with an intricate design on it. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for where it passed over James's body, there was nothing to be seen.

Lucy gasped. "That's an invisibility cloak! How did you get one?" Father said they were against the rules to have at Hogwarts. She ignored that part, and went on with her fascination of the object.

"Filched it from my da," James said with pride. "I've been using it all the years I've been here, and he thinks it's gone missing." Giggling, Lucy reached out to touch it. The cloak was silky smooth. "Awesome, isn't it?"

Half in awe, Lucy nodded. It _was_ pretty amazing.

"Yeah, and the best part is…"

The two of them talked the entire train ride and then some. They were so busy talking, they didn't even realise when Lucy was supposed to go with the other first years, and instead went with James in the carriages. Much to her embarrassment, when they got to the Great Hall, the same professor who had talked to her on the train told her that she hadn't done things right.

Even though she had to wait for the other first years to arrive, and was sick to her stomach with embarrassment, Lucy realised that she had stopped feeling afraid the moment James stepped into the train compartment.


End file.
